THE PLAGUE

Manchurian Plague, 1910-1911

With terrifying suddenness, Kharbin—and many other cities and villages in Manchuria—was gripped by plague in September, 1910. Nothing could stop the plague. It was extraordinarily contagious. It was one hundred percent fatal. If you were infected, you died within a day or two. The outbreak attracted international attention and teams of medical specialists were dispatched from the United States, Europe, Russia and Japan to battle the epidemic. There was concern that if the plague wasn’t checked in China, ​it could spread around the world.

Photo 1: Anyone exposed to the plague or suspected of carrying the infection was quarantined in railroad boxcars. Here, a plague-worker checks a quarantined patient’s temperature.Photo 2: Plague-workers, doctors and nurses, bundled in their head-to-toe protective clothing, were grim figures.Photo 3: In sub-zero temperatures, Russian soldiers patrolled the streets of Kharbin. At sword point, they challenged and arrested those who appeared to be sick.Photo 4: Many buildings in Kharbin were requisitioned by the government to accommodate plague victims. Empty stables, schools and stores were converted into disinfecting stations or hospitals.Photo 5: Plague-workers pose in two types of garb. There was a shortage of supplies, so many courageous workers tended the sick in protective gear that they made themselves.Photo 6: The bulky clothing and gloves worn by the medics hampered their treatment of patients. Conversation was practically impossible and ice constantly formed on their goggles.Photo 7: Two medics stand in one of the make-shift plague shelters. Some sufferers were warehoused in these primitive accommodations because the city was overwhelmed by the sheer number of infected people.Photo 8: The plague epidemic raged for months. Corpses were incinerated since the ground was frozen solid and burials were impossible.Photo 9: As he worked in the hospital, the Baron recorded the names of the dying. This list—his memorial to those who would otherwise be forgotten—fills many pages at the end of his published memoir.​Photo 10: ​As he worked in the hospital, the Baron recorded the names of the dying. This list—his memorial to those who would otherwise be forgotten—fills many pages at the end of his published memoir.